Sort of Like a Moonie Divorce

Today, in the blink of an eye, almost 4000 marriages legally ceased to exist. The California Supreme Court held that the mayor of San Francisco exceeded his powers by ordering the city/county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, in violation of California law. The court reached that conclusion unanimously, in an opinion that really is hard to argue with. To allow Mayor Newsom to ignore controlling law (without ever challenging it in court) would have set a horrible precedent for officials around the state. While Newsom's motives may have been noble, it's not the role of the mayor to pass on the constitutionality of state law. The only dissent amongst the court came over the issue of what to do with those people who got licenses earlier this year. By a 5-2 vote, the court simply invalidated them. Because Newsom lacked the power to ignore state law in the first place, the marriages were void ab initio. While possibly legally correct, it wouldn't have killed anyone if that issue was remanded to a lower court for factual development while the broader question of gay marriage in California made its way to the Supreme Court. Still, if the right to gay marriage is announced at some later date, nothing will stop the 4000 marriages voided today from being reborn.

On a side note, do you think that Newsom might be sharing any space in panel discussions with disgraced Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore? While they are ideologically poles apart, the logic that got them where they are today is very similar. Both placed their personal interpretation of the law above other valid sources of it and based their right to do that on their oath to uphold the state and U.S. constitutions. Their paths are not identical, but there are some interesting parallels.